Kevin Lerena from South Africa will defend his world title of the world champion (WBC) on Thursday on his hometown against Serhiy Radchenko – a full circuit for a warrior who worked all over the world and paired Tyson Fury.
Lerena, who has a professional record of 33 fights, 30 wins (14 by KO) and three losses, became the short-lived world champion of WBC Bridger, when Lawrence Okolie left the title in October last year.
Probably one of the most talented vigorous combat athletes in South Africa, along with the Middle Wind World Champion UFC Dricus du Plessis, Leeren has a mission to breed more stars in boxing – which he still considers to be the main combat sport in the country – pointing to his proud history.
Lerena said ESPN: “In South Africa, Dricus exploded on the MMA stage [locally] And all over the world, but in boxing we have a little more platform for more than one person.
“I think there is definitely a space for the development of this sport … It’s no secret that I am involved in developing this sport.
“I have my own promotion, for which I am an ambassador, Aquila Boxing Promotions [trainer Peter Smith] This has his own promotion, with which he comes out … and Peter’s brother, Sean, who also began promotion. “
Peter Smith added, pointing to the ring in the gym: “Kevin and I am going to fight in Great Britain. We have 60,000 people to leave. You do not understand. You see such a ring and 60,000 people.
“We want to bring people back to sport, so that they come and support south Africans … If we all look through the same glass, we will end up with guys whose teenage people can look as if they were looking at Kevin.”
Currently 32 years, Leeren added that he was as hungry for success as when he first discovered boxing in teenagers and came across his coach Smith.
He said: “For the first time I found a boxing sport at the age of 15, 16. When I played rugby at school, I always trained boxing.
“I liked the element of sport sports, but I really fell into sport when I turned 17 or 18 – when I joined Peter. I became a professional at the age of 18, and the rest is a story.
“I never, I never thought that I would be a world champion. I just tried to survive my first fights, and when you have a believe in the system that was taught, in my trainer, you have the ability to learn and confidence increases.”
Lerena had the opportunity to pair with one of the boxers, which she admires the most, Tyson Fury, after the couple hit the relationship when Fury fought Chisora for the third time on the same card in which Lerena lost Daniel Dubois in 2022.
Lerena remembered: “I was an event of cooperation when Tyson Fury fought Derek Chisora, so we hit the relationship there. He asked me if I would come to the camp when he was fighting [Oleksandr] Usyk. In this way we hit a relationship. “
Commenting on how Fury could succeed, despite the lack of sculpted appearance of other world champions, Lerena said: “Sports ability plays a role.
“As long as there is no body structure [traditionally associated with a world class boxer]It has a sports ability in the sense that it has a phenomenal gas tank.
“Conventional heavyweight masters do not look like him, but at the same time some of them do not box like him. Guys who are super built do not have this IQ ring [and] I don’t have such a move for a gigantic man. “
Fury announced his pension from boxing in January, but he already has He was teasing with a potential return. However, there was no official announcement of this. For Lerena, the journey continues, driven by a tough beginning he had in his boxing career and support of the deceased mother. She died in March 2024.
Lerena said: “When I became a professional, I worked three jobs. Nobody cares about mercy … My mother was a lonely lady of the working class. I worked, went to school and did my things, but when I finished school, I had to do work because we had no money at the university.
“I had to say,” What do I want to do? Do I want to study, do I want to do this professional sport? “
“To perform a professional boxing, I had to work three works. I had to work as a boxing coach on the floor of Sean Smith. I had to lend a hand George and brother Peter, Sean. He has a security company and worked for him as a gate to earn extra cash.
“I had a lot of hunger in me to try well. That’s why we’re [here] Now: I still have this hunger. This is never enough. It’s not like I’m greedy. I just have the impression that I just want to maximize, so when one day I die, I can say that I tried to do the best.
“Nobody can say,” he was a slothful b **** rd. ” Nobody can say that. “
However, even when he became the world champion, Lereren did not devote too much minds to celebration.
“When everything is said and done, the belts will be on the dust collecting shelf. I can’t celebrate it. I celebrate, which a lot means to me in the sense of my family,” he said.
“When everything is said and made, the belts collect dust on the wall, friends become few, everyone disappears, but your family and your loved ones are the only ones who are there. I am celebrating.”
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